Chitra Bannerjee Diavkaruni is an award-winning and bestselling Indian American author, poet, activist, and the Betty and Gene McDavid Professor of Writing at the University of Houston’s Creative Writing Program. Her work has been published in over 50 magazines, including The Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker, and her writing has been included in over 50 anthologies, including The Best American Short Stories, The O. Henry Prize Stories and The Pushcart Prize Anthology. Her books have been translated into 29 languages, and many of them have been used for campus-wide and city-wide reads. Her short story collection, Arranged Marriage won an American Book Award in 1996, and two of her novels, The Mistress of Spices and Sister of My Heart, as well as a short story “The Word Love” were adapted into films. Many of her other novels are currently under option at Hollywood and Bollywood. She writes for children as well as adults and has published books in multiple genres, including realistic fiction, historical fiction, magical realism, myth and fantasy. Born in Kolkata, India, she first came to the United States as a graduate student and holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Berkeley. She lives with her husband in Houston and loves to connect with her readers on social media.
Website: http://www.chitradivakaruni.com/; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chitradivakaruni; Twitter @cdivakaruni; Instagram @divakarunichitra.
Namrata Poddar writes fiction, nonfiction and serves as Interviews Editor for Kweli where she curates the series called “Race, Power and Storytelling.” Her work has appeared in The Best Asian Short Stories 2019, Longreads, Literary Hub, Electric Literature, Poets & Writers, Transition, VIDA Review, The Caravan, The Kenyon Review (forthcoming) and elsewhere. Her debut fiction book, Ladies Special, Homebound, was a finalist for Feminist Press's 2018 Meriwether Award, longlisted for C&R Press’s 2019 Book Award, and is forthcoming from Speaking Tiger. She’s also a contributor for The Los Angeles Times where she focuses on the art and sociocultural diversity of Orange County. She holds a Ph.D. in French Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, an MFA from Bennington College and Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in Transnational Cultures from UCLA. She lives in Huntington Beach, California.
Website: www.namratapoddar.com; Twitter: @poddar_namrata; Instagram: @writerpoddar
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NP: You’re among the most prolific South Asian American authors I know. You’ve written 18 books across genres (novels, stories, poetry, young adult and children’s books), worked with charity organizations in key leadership roles, have an active presence on social media; you’re a mother of two and a Professor of creative writing in a competitive graduate program. How do you manage to juggle the different roles of your personal and professional life while staying prolific as a writer?
CBD: These are all things I feel very passionate about, so I force myself to make time. I have segmented my day/week into parts, and try not to let things spill over, unless there is an emergency. For instance, I have writing hours, and I try to protect them. I have days of the week which are devoted to teaching and students, days for community service, and so on. I've tried to simplify my life—less socializing, less leisure travel, no TV at all, etc. Plus, I'm blessed to have a very supportive husband who always helped me with child-rearing when the boys were younger.
NP: Hindu mythology plays a big role in your books. As a feminist and mythology nerd, I’m particularly drawn to your novels, The Palace of Illusions (2008), and your latest, The Forest of Enchantments (2019), masterful retellings of Indian epics—The Mahabharata and The Ramayana—from their female protagonist’s perspective, Draupadi and Sita. What were your biggest challenges in writing The Palace of Illusions, given The Mahabharata’s vast scope in weaving multiple plots and characters through, one could argue, a single story of two fraternal clans claiming the throne of Hastinapur. How did you overcome the challenges?
CBD: I had to figure out my story line for Palace carefully, because as you've pointed out, The Mahabharat is very vast. I finally decided that I would begin with Panchaali's birth and end with her death, and focus only on things that she would have encountered personally, or things that would have been told to her. That helped me streamline the events that would make up Palace.
NP: As opposed to Draupadi who isn’t afraid to voice her anger, Sita from The Ramayana is seen as an ideal woman in a Hindu imagination as is her husband Ram and his brother Laxman who out of their royal obligations or dharma abandon a pregnant Sita in the forest. To rewrite the Hindu epic and question the story’s widely revered brotherly duo is an ambitious feminist project, especially in a time where a muscular Hindu nationalist government leads India. Did fears of political censorship and/or persecution ever stop you from writing the book? What were some of your biggest challenges in finishing the book?
CBD: Yes, of course I was concerned. I'm often concerned when I write, since I deal with touchy issues—domestic violence, lesbian relationships, alcoholism and depression in the community, gangs, racism, women's rights. But these are important issues. What is the point of being a writer if we don't shine light on such things? In the case of Sita, I wanted to make sure that people wouldn't come back and say I just made up the idea of Sita as a strong woman who does not compromise at crucial moments, so I spent a number of years doing research on the different Ramayans down the ages. Then I took a deep breath and started writing. In any case, my project was pro-Sita, not anti-Ram. I wanted to show the complexity in both their characters, the nobility in both of them.
NP: Despite ongoing debates toward creating literary diversity, including campaigns like #weneeddiversebooks and annual VIDA counts, 76% of American publishing continues to be white. The recent controversy over Jeanine Cummins’s American Dirt further reignited the debate on an unbearable whiteness of American publishing. What are your experiences publishing in the US as a writer of South Asian descent, especially since you started on the path way before diversity became a buzzword on the scene? Has it been easy?
CBD: No, it has not been easy. Even after I've published a dozen books, including award-winners and bestsellers, my agent often has to show my work to several publishers before she finds a fit. Many large publishers will only publish a small percentage of diverse writing, and once they reach that quota, they are not interested. Some have decided which voices make them feel comfortable and will publish those over others which are more edgy. And of course they are looking for stories that they think will sell, even if those have been appropriated by white writers, as in American Dirt.
NP: You started your writing career as a poet and you’ve written across genres, yet you’re best known to your readership (generally speaking) for your novels that include many bestsellers. In your writing life, do you see yourself partial to a particular genre too? Why?
CBD: Early in my writing life, I fell in love with creating and developing characters, often across decades or generations. So right now the novel form suits me the most. I hope I bring to it things I learned as a poet: the importance of image and rhythm, of throwing a slanted light on an event.
NP: Who do you see as your literary parents? And your literary siblings?
CBD: I have been most influenced by women's voices, especially diverse writers. Maxine Hong Kingston was an early influence. So was Bharati Mukherjee. Bengali writers I grew up with, such as Tagore and Mahasweta Devi were strong influences, particularly in their analysis of social rules and its impact on women. I am bowled over by the courage of Toni Morrison. I love the imagination of Cristina García. I admire Amitav Ghosh's historical vision. (I guess the last two are more like "siblings!")
NP: What are you currently working on?
CBD: I'm working on a historical novel set during the British occupation of India. It focuses on a woman who was brave and headstrong and stood up against the British—and also against the traitors without whose collaboration the British wouldn't have been victorious. But I need to keep her name a secret for now!
